North Carolina governor suspends gun rights

In satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hurricane Earl moves through the Atlantic Ocean toward the U.S. coast, leading three Governors to declare states of emergency.

(Photo by NOAA via Getty Images)

State of emergency order makes criminals of concealed handgun permit-holders, sport shooters and hunters.

[Raleigh] Yesterday, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed Executive Order No. 62, declaring a State of Emergency in advance of Hurricane Earle. In doing so, Perdue suspended the right of state residents to use or carry firearms outside their premises.

At issue is N.C. General Statute 14-288.7, which prohibits transporting a “dangerous weapon” during a state of emergency:

§ 14 288.7. Transporting dangerous weapon or substance during emergency; possessing off premises; exceptions.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person to transport or possess off his own premises any dangerous weapon or substance in any area:
(1) In which a declared state of emergency exists; or
(2) Within the immediate vicinity of which a riot is occurring.
(b) This section does not apply to persons exempted from the provisions of G.S. 14 269 with respect to any activities lawfully engaged in while carrying out their duties.
(c) Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. (1969, c. 869, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 192; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

According to § 14 288.1 (10), a state of emergency exists “whenever, during times of public crisis, disaster, rioting, catastrophe, or similar public emergency, public safety authorities are unable to maintain public order or afford adequate protection for lives or property, or whenever the occurrence of any such condition is imminent.”

Violation of the order is a Class I misdemeanor, punishable by up to 120 days in jail. Those impacted include concealed handgun permit-holders, sport-shooters, and anyone else carrying a firearm outside their home or business. Critics note that dove-hunting season begins on Saturday (September 4), potentially making criminals of thousands of hunters.

NC DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO RECTIFY PROBLEM

In recent years, two North Carolina bills could have prevented infringement on individual rights under state of emergency laws. Under Section 3 of House Bill 257: “No Seizure of Lawful Firearms in Emergency,” sponsored by Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow) and three other legislators, lawfully possessed firearms and ammunition would have been exempted from the state of emergency law.

Despite support from the state’s primary gun group, Grass Roots North Carolina*, and others the bill died when it was denied a committee hearing by Democrat leadership, including Speaker Joe Hackney (D-Chatham, Moore, Orange) House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman (D-Davidson) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Representative Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson).

The issue became more urgent in February, when the town of King declared a state of emergency in response to an impending snowstorm and posted the entire town against the sale and purchase of firearms and ammunition.

In response, GRNC worked with Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba) to revamp the bill and introduce it again, with stronger language on the state of emergency issue, during the second year of the legislature’s two-year session as HB 2031. Referred to the House Judiciary I Committee, chaired by anti-gun Rep. Deborah Ross, that bill too died when Democrats denied it a hearing.

LAWSUIT PENDING ON STATE OF EMERGENCY LAW

Ironically, in June GRNC joined Michael Bateman, Virgil Green, Forrest Minges, Jr., and the Second Amendment Foundation in a lawsuit against the state’s emergency powers gun ban.

Named in the suit are North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue; Reuben Young, secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety; Stokes County and the City of King.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the official title is Bateman et al v. Perdue et al, Case No. 5:10-cv-265. It contends that state statutes forbidding carrying of firearms and ammunition during declared states of emergency, as well as laws enabling government officials to prohibit purchase, sale and possession of firearms and ammunition are unconstitutional because they forbid the exercise of Second Amendment rights as affirmed by the Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. Chicago.

After GRNC issued an alert to its members, word of the implications of Perdue's order spread on the Internet, including being featured on thetruthaboutguns.com. It is widely anticipated that the order will add impetus to the Bateman lawsuit.

*Author F. Paul Valone is president and a co-founder of Grass Roots North Carolina.

Its time to get that law changed. Not sure if you can blame this one on the Governor, unless of course she is the one that signed it in to law. If so then vote her out of office. Clearly self defense is against the law in that state.

As I rightly blasted Perdue and the 9 other Governors that comprise the newly appointed "Federal" Regional Governors of the US working directly for Obama in my Feb article. Not surprising that she did not let a good crisis go to waste.

vote these peole out of office. Democrats do not stand for what they used to stand for. They have become so humanistic, atheistic, socialistic and communistic in their thinking that they are destroying what America was at one time. All filtered down by the foolishness of our presidentj, Mr. Obama the Muslim.

We were looking at moving our home and business to NC - but will not until this governor and this anti-constitutional law is repealed. It amazes me how the residents let the governor suspend their rights. Regardless of where you stand on the 2nd Ammendment rights, the fact that this governor can suspend constitutional rights at a whim is unbelievable...

Paul, Not a lot of people are aware of this! We must contact our legislators and let them know that this is NOT what we, the people (whom they represent), want! I will be talking to them today! Great article, BTW! Keep fighting the good fight!

To bad it times like this that ONLY the criminals will be caring weapons to use against the general public ANY law forbidding the LEGAL use and transportation of a firearm should NEVER have been made into a law I hope this November we remove all those unthinking CORRUPT politicians in this state and country

Who's talking about disbanding the police? Rather, you need understand that the police do not stop crimes. They may be a deterant to crime, and will help track down and nab the bad guys, but this is after the crime has taken place. It is your role as a free citizen to protect yourself when you or your family is in danger. The police aren't going to do that for you.

Isn't that the truth. It's so obvious that we have become a communist nation, now that the government dictates every aspect of what is manufactured, what we can buy, what food we can eat, what farms grow what food, and own all the factories. And our mixed race president is exactly like Hitler...it's just a matter of time before he starts corralling all the white Christians into gas chambers so he can assert the will of Allah and convert the nation into a Muslim theocracy.

To the first anonymous responder, I'm afraid you're dead wrong in your understanding of Nazis. Nazi is shorthand for the National Socialist Party. The Nazis were DEFINITELY leftists in every sense of the word. They were the very definition of a leftist government, creating centralized control of all activities in the nation, particularly businesses and education. Although calling right-wingers Nazis or fascists is very appealing, it's intellectually absurd. Both Nazis and fascists were left wing, central-planning forms of governments. Right-wingers actually want LESS government or government that is confined to its defined roles in a constitution. Right wingers who go too far go towards anarchy (very ironically the people calling themselves "anarchists" are actually socialist-loving left-wingers). Other than the Roman Republic and pretty much up until America's constitutional republic, almost every other government throughout history has been leftist.

Why, yes, electing Republicans will be a good start at getting rid of illegal gun laws since the existence or possession of guns is never the real problem. Illegal gun laws (i.e. unconstitutional infringements of the 2nd Amendment) have historically posed an enormous threat to life, liberty, and property. Anyone who whines and cries about "illegal guns on the street" is either an idiot or one of the wicked who relishes prospects of the kind of state sponsored genocide so common to regimes that outlaw firearms. Anyone proposing gun control is a loon who should be shunned or a criminal who should be locked up for a very long time.

Anonymous, the reason you look ridiculous because you ARE ridiculous. It appears to me you are either an idiot or a leftist (Providing, of course, it is possible to tell the difference.) Fascism (National Socialism) and Communism (International Socialism) are movements of the left with slightly different doctrines about the ultimate role of the Nation State. Both are, like you, left wing. So, Mr. Anonymous leftist, why are YOU keeping company with genocidal monsters? Are you a genocidal monster too? Do you support gun control for the same reasons the Nazis and Bolshevik did? Enquiring minds want to know before we grant you anything remotely resembling intellectual legitimacy.

For those of you who are saying that Nazism is a far left movement, I suggest you actually do some research. It IS a far right movement. I suggest that you go to wikipedia.

"Nazism (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism; alternatively spelled Naziism[1]) was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It was a unique variety of fascism that involved biological racism and antisemitism.[10] Nazism presented itself as politically syncretic, incorporating policies, tactics and philosophies from right- and left-wing ideologies; in practice, Nazism was a far right form of politics"

See that? "Far right form of politics." Just because they used some tactics from the left, does not mean that it was not a far right movement.

"Both are, like you, left wing. So, Mr. Anonymous leftist, why are YOU keeping company with genocidal monsters? Are you a genocidal monster too? Do you support gun control for the same reasons the Nazis and Bolshevik did? Enquiring minds want to know before we grant you anything remotely resembling intellectual legitimacy."

Actually, I'm a moderate. But you also realize that movements like the KKK are also far right conservative moments. How many blacks, Jews and Asians did you kill today? Slaughter any Mexicans just for good measure? And again, it is YOU who, according to your own logic, is on the side of a Genocidal monster.

" Anyone who whines and cries about "illegal guns on the street" is either an idiot or one of the wicked who relishes prospects of the kind of state sponsored genocide so common to regimes that outlaw firearms. Anyone proposing gun control is a loon who should be shunned or a criminal who should be locked up for a very long time."

More right-wing propaganda. Many countries have made guns illegal, take most of Europe, as an example of many countries (England, France). Yet there are no genocides in those countries. And a government doesn't need to disarm the people to control them. I guess you're not aware that we had Internment camps for Japanese citizens? We allow people to carry guns, yet our government was still able to literally remove people from their homes and force them to live in little communal living huts until the end of the war. To think that guns protects you from your own government is absurd.

And for those of you also want to use the full name of the Nazi part (National Socialism Party) as a justification for it being a far left movement. You are idiots. That's like saying that the North Korean government is a Democracy, because it's full name is "Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

But I guess I don't expect a bunch of Glenn Beck zealots to actually appeal to logic for your reasoning.

Dude,
First of all, Wikipedia is hardly known for it's accuracy. It can be edited by anyone with an opinion.

Second, even your precious wiki seems to controdict itself. How can something be simaltaneously made up of right and left wing ideas and then be called "ultra right"? Wouldn't something "ultra right" only be made up of "right" ideas?

Seriously, their really isn't one policy that the socialist nazi's had that a conservative would agree with.

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land period!
2nd Amendment
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

I think that this won't be the last time that they try this. They are trying to disarm us so that they have us vulnerable. They can pry my guns from my cold dead fingers, but only after I've emptied them into a few of those communistic savages first.

Oh the irony. Stating "God Bless" while proclaiming that you would kill people if someone TUK UR GUNZZZZ. I wonder what type of gun Jesus would be sporting in his holster on in his F-150's gun rack (that's right, Jesus is a Ford man).

Yeshua (Jesus to you non-Hebrews out there) told his disciples to carry swords. Yeshua himself, as commander of the Lord's Host had at his disposal, 12 legions (12,000) warrior angels. If you will recall your Bible stories (you who presume to lecture us about Jesus do read the Bible regularly, right?) you will recall that one angel of the Lord slaughtered thousands of enemy troops on several occasions. If I had a 12,000 man Uber-Special Forces unit that could drop out of the sky upon request, I too might just stop toting the old 45 around in my concealed carry rig. My advice is this: Stop trying to invoke Yeshua to justify your latest pet evil, wicked, and godless left wing delusion.

So you have one instance in which Jesus said to carry a sword? A passage usually taken metaphorically.

I guess Matthew 5:43-48 is just a bunch of crap now?
"You have learned that they were told, “Love your neighbor, hate your enemy.” But what I tell you is this: Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors; only so can you be children of your heavenly Father, who makes his sun shine on good and bad alike, and sends the rain on the honest and the dishonest. If you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect? Surely the tax-gatherers do as much as that. And if you greet only your brothers, what is there extraordinary about that? Even the heathen do as much. There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly Father’s goodness knows no bounds."

Or Matthew 5:38:42:

You have learned that they were told, “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.” But what I tell you is this: Do not set yourself against the man who wrongs you. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him your left. If a man wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well. If a man in authority makes you go one mile, go with him two. Give when you are asked to give; and do not turn your back on a man who wants to borrow.

Yup. Jesus would have wanted you to carry a gun to arm yourself. He certainly wouldn't have wanted you to just turn the other cheek. Nope.

In order for the government to exert absolute control over its subjects, they must first be disarmed. This is a key factor here. What is going on here is diabolical and the politicians should be imprisoned.

So you're expecting Canada to be rolling through with tanks now, or are you expecting England on the east coast? It is precisely this loyal military (loyal to the government) which will crush an unarmed populace. I'm sure everyone in Bosnia, Jakarta, and Georgia is thankful in hindsight for every handgun and rifle they didn't have.

I'm visiting North Carolina for work, and of course, brought my Glock with me. Flew in Monday and out tomorrow (Friday). Now I'm a criminal for transporting my firearm while at work tomorrow and transporting to the Raleigh Int'l Airport to fly home. Ain't that grand...

It is at those times of crisis when I need my weapon the most.. Seems silly that while preparing the coast for a little weather, the state tells us in the mountains that we shouldn't carry our weapons as we do every day.. They work hard to make criminals out of all of us..

Do you honestly think that the state is going to enforce this in the mountains when the hurricane isn't even going to make landfall???? I know the thought of "they COULD" may make you cringe, but they COULD also wire tap you and listen to your conversations without a warrant... Stupid demo... wait. That was a Republican...

Yeah man I can't wait til we get back to them glory days of GWB where we lived such carefree lives...starting needless wars and burying our nation in debt for generations to come. Who cares if GWB trampled civil rights and ignored the constitution repeatedly, at least he wasn't a Democrat!

Why would you want to use an underpowered AK-47? A hunting rifle is much more powerful than an AK, and many are semiautomatic just like the AK. The AK-47 fires what's called an "intermediate" cartridge -- with significantly less energy/"stopping power" than a full-powered hunting cartridge.

Basically, many hunting rifles are much more "deadly" than the "evil" AK-47. They are NOT "machine guns" or "assault rifles".

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Paul Valone is a Second Amendment veteran who directs Grass Roots North Carolina (www.GRNC.org) and who regularly impacts local, state and federal gun laws. He will advise gun rights supporters of impending threats. E-mail: FPV@fpaulvalone.com.